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Category Archives: Adult

Six sensational times two

03 Mar

On Sunday I discussed the emotional tailspin that Perez’s book put me in and vowed to share some of my favorite emotionally-charged stories. But I couldn’t pick just six, instead I found twelve to share with you. If these don’t make you feel something, you may just be grumpy cat.

  1. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez: See my previous post– ultimately, the racially-charged atmosphere and ill-fated love story climaxes with deadly consequences.
  2. If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch: I don’t cry often over books, but the final chapters of Carey’s reclamation of normalcy after being abandoned by her drug-addicted mother while having to raise her mute younger sister.
  3. Nothing by Janne Teller and Martin Aitken (translator): This book. This. book. The age of the characters mixed with the existential nature of the central conflict of the story make this dangerous but thought-provoking.
  4. Guardian by Julius Lester: The opening of the book is one of the best hooks “But there are times when a tree can no longer withstand the pain inflicted on it, and the wind will take pity on that tree and topple it over in a mighty storm. All the other trees who witnessed the evil look down upon the fallen tree with envy. They pray for the day when a wind will end their suffering. I pray for the day when God will end mine.”
  5. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan: This adult novel digs deep into human emotions, duty, and loyalty with multiple perspectives to move the novel forward focusing on a wife married later in life to a husband wanting to try his hand at farming. The mood is melancholy in this character-driven story.
  6. Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess: Like A Child Called It, students gravitate toward stories that are unavoidably painful. In this case, Cricket has been sexually abused by her father and upon his return, the naive mother continues to side with her husband and not her daughter.
  7. Identical by Ellen Hopkins: The psychological roller coaster of identical twin girls being abused paired with the creativity of the dual narrative again erupt in fireworks by the end of the book, leaving jaws dropped.
  8. Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott: One of the slimmest books out there, it’s staggering that Scott exposes pedophilia in such a raw way.
  9. Lucky by Alice Sebold: Knowing this back story lends itself to a deeper understanding of her fictional The Lovely Bones. The memoir of her rape at eighteen sheds light on how horrible situations can transform a person.
  10. And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard: Think of how Emily Dickinson’s poetry feels and sounds, then think about how a girl seeking answers after the suicide of her boyfriend and discovers her poetry and parallels that will give her comfort.
  11. Touching Snow by M. Sindy Felin: Family dynamics is at the heart of Felin’s book focusing on an immigrant family hiding abuse. At it’s height, Karina is also exploring who she is and who she wants to be, if others will let her.
  12. The Sin-Eater’s Confession by Ilsa Bick: This is one of my favorite GLBT titles that highlights homophobia alongside the beauty of the human form and relationships.
 
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Posted by on March 3, 2016 in Adult, Authors, Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Emotional roller coaster

28 Feb

Everyone should experience at least one time in their life, the weight and significance of a book. I’m lucky that I both enjoy reading (doing a lot of it) and that’s it is part of my job description, so having these experiences with books has happened more than once. Sometimes they are unexpected. For Perez’s book, I don’t even know who or where the recommendation came from to add it to my TBR pile, but boy am I glad it did.

The emotional toll this book took on me after eking out time to finish it as soon as I could is invigorating. Though the book’s summary discusses the school explosion in 1937 in Texas, it is about the characters and their obstacles, not closing chapters that center on the explosion that create the turmoil. Perez speeds the book up at times with fast-moving changes to the narrating characters, which include Naomi, the Mexican half sister to twins Cari and Beto, Beto, Henry, the twins’ biological father, Wash, Naomi’s Romeo to her Juliet, and the appropriately named “The Gang”, essentially town bystanders watching events unfold from a safe distance but not withholding judgement or disdain.

The tumultuous atmosphere of discrimination against blacks and Mexicans plays an equally traumatizing role as loss and heartbreak. Naomi is bursting with emotion that is pushed down for the sake of the twins until is is unleashed by meeting Wash. Wash is black. Naomi is Mexican. Henry wants to make his deceased wife’s daughter his new wife, but Naomi knows what consequences this will have and what her true feelings are knowing their dark history. But the book is layered and these are just the surface elements at play. It is dark and beautiful, rich and haunting.

This week, I’ll post six sensational emotionally draining books. I bet you’ll see one there that you already heard me discuss.

 
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Posted by on February 28, 2016 in Adult, Authors, Fiction, Young Adult

 

Stacked up

21 Feb

So I thought I would get a bit more reading done during ‘winter’ break– instead I spent my hours organizing the house, enjoying my family, entertaining friends, and doing some of my own work (I’ll be blogging for YALSA’s The Hub alongside this personal library/book blog and contributing to a books blog for our local newspaper).

In preparation for the book marathon that I thought I’d be enjoying, here were some of the advanced copies that stacked up in my digital to-be read pile. I’ll look forward to sharing some reviews once I’ve actually read them!

  • You Were Here by Cori McCarthy
  • Avonelle’s Gift by Nova Scheller
  • The Smell of Other People’s Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
  • Welcome to Hell Damini by John Otis Biggs
  • What Comes of Eating Doughnuts with a Boy Who Plays Guitar by Nicole Campbell
  • Amaranthine by Lanie Jacobs
 
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Posted by on February 21, 2016 in Adult, Authors, Fiction, Young Adult

 

Woodland creatures

18 Feb

As I finish up the invitations for my kids’ birthday party happening at a local nature discovery center, I’m reminded of a few of my favorite outdoor novels. Of course, it wouldn’t be complete without a Gary Paulsen story, but then there’s a movie-adapted nonfiction tale by a master storyteller/investigator, and a newer-ish coming of age juxtaposing a human and an animal that may just be an emerging trend.

What I love about Gary Paulsen’s Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod wasn’t so much the story of his actually running it, instead, it was the magical way Paulsen describes his bond with the dogs and the runs he did in preparation. I specifically remember a few scenes where his imagery takes over your five senses and you’re touching, smelling, tasting, hearing, and seeing all of the glorious things nature serves up, if only you took time out to do so. It’s that beauty that he captures that’s perfection.

In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the ultimate man versus nature saga trumps the mystery of why Chris would venture to the Alaskan expanse. For me the speculation about all that he must have endured and the lasting image of the young man’s body in the abandoned bus that graces the front cover is fascinating. How could one survive with so little?

And last, Martin Marten, set at the foot of Mount Hood is a spectacular feast that rolls and twists every cool National Geographic WILD show into a side-by-side comparison to the toils of teenage life. Its rich language is as much a treat as the intelligence that shows in how the story is told, yet only a tad maddening as Doyle does not use quotation marks for dialogue: readers must pay close attention to every word in response which plays to its richness.

So here’s to truly wonderful examples of how we all must slow down just a bit and enjoy nature, whether it’s by actually experiencing it or reading about it to make us remember.

 

 
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Posted by on February 18, 2016 in Adult, Authors, Fiction, Middle grade, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 

Friends?

07 Feb

After reading Francesca Davis DiPiazza Friend Me!: 600 Years of Social Networking in America, I want to highlight my “six sensational” stories of unique friendships in literature.

  1. Bear’s New Friend by Karma Wilson: What’s not to love about the beautiful pictures, vivid colors, and the collection of friends from the ground and the air that hang around with bear?
  2. North of Beautiful by Justina Chen: When Terra meets Jacob in a collective quest to find inner strength from an outward ‘flaw’, they become inextricably linked.
  3. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See: All of See’s works are gorgeous, but the historical significance and flowing language of this secret language is beguiling.
  4. Chemical Garden trilogy (Wither, Fever, Sever) by Lauren DeStefano: From the eye-catching covers to the unique storyline of three girls of varying ages brought together to be wives for a man who, like them, is losing the battle with a genetic predisposition to die prematurely, the three ‘sister wives’ bond in varying ways.
  5. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne: On opposite sides of the fence, the Jewish boy on one side of the fence is befriended by the Commander’s son on the other with a heart-wrenching end.
  6. Selection series (The Selection, The Elite, The One, The Heir, The Crown) by Kiera Cass: Similar to DeStefano’s books, a crew of girls come together, this time in a palace to vie for the affections of a prince, with one girl seemingly disinterested repeatedly winning the attention from the prince.
 
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Posted by on February 7, 2016 in Adult, Authors, Childrens, Fiction, Nonfiction, Young Adult

 
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